The Last Time I Saw Him
by October Callow
Summary: October (me) recounts the story of when she first found out about her godly parent.


My name is October Callow, and I live in Pittsburgh, Penn. My older brother, Raffi, is the closest person in my life, if the only one. I have a strange past, even at only sixteen. My dad, whose name I don't recall, left my mom when I was four and Raffi was seven, so he remembers it better than I. My mom, according to Raffi, didn't make a fuss, only sadly nodding. My stepdad, George Hendrey, hates me, and hits me whenever he feels like it. My only best friend is Raffi; if only he were not my brother, so I could have two friends.

I don't have any talents to speak of, and I only have a few hobbies. My family lives very frugally; my stepdad gambles and my mom works all day with almost minimal pay. Honestly, it's not the best life, but there definitely could be worse. I could be dead. Which I almost am, but never mind that. Moving on. Was it Winston Churchill that said "Never give up"? I don't really know if I can stick to that at this point, but I will keep it in mind. Raffi would be quite disappointed if I left him…

Anyways, I'm digressing. It all started the dark and stormy… Wait a second, that was really lame. Sorry. It actually started on a perfectly normal day, averagely sunny and not too hot. Which reminds me, the oven has brownies in it, and I'm hungry. Excuse me for a few.

_Ten minutes later…_

Okay, I'm back, and continuing. My mom was at work, even though it was a Saturday. That's how little money we had at the time, that month. My brother and I were in the house alone. George (I refuse to call him "dad" or "stepdad") was off somewhere playing poker, losing money and probably smoking pot while drinking vodka at the same time. I'm surprised the dude is still functioning, never mind living.

Sorry, again. I have ADGD.

And dyslexia.

Seriously, I'm so done. But I'll keep the story going.

When the doorbell rang, I looked at my brother, and he was asleep. I kind of felt bad for him, working late nights and such, so I went to answer the doorbell. When I opened it, some hobo guy was standing there, looking all serious, as if he were a businessman or something. Am I being rude to him? He's actually my… I can't tell you, sucker. You have to wait for it!

I raised an eyebrow at him, and looked him over. He had shaggy brown hair, not too long, and his clothes were a bit worn out. Otherwise, he looked normal enough. His blue eyes seemed to stare into my soul, and his facial features were, um, what's the word? Weathered? No… oh well, I'll remember sometime. He held out a hand, a clean one, and I tentatively shook it.

"Can we walk for a bit?"

"Only in the backyard."

The guy just nodded, and I sighed quietly. I led him around to the back, opening the gate and slipping inside.

"October, I've been watching over you for a long time now, and—"

I stopped him right there. Stalker much…?

"You've been what?" I screeched.

"You don't know?"

"I don't know a lot of things."

"I'm your biological father."

"Sure. Do you have any medical conditions or anything? Low blood sugar, or diabetes?"

"I most certainly don't."

He smiled at me, but I didn't return it. Like I said, creepy. This guy's accent was a mix between British, Italian and I don't know, German or something. I apologize if that offended anyone; I don't know my European accents. Clearly.

"Okay. So, assuming you aren't lying to me, how do you explain yourself?"

"Your mother was a wonderful woman. I regret leaving her very much."

"You better, because now she looks ten years too old, and my stepdad is a total jerk."

What? Okay fine, you got me. I definitely did not say something as nice as jerk. Moving on.

"It is all for the best."

"Tell that to my mother, idiot."

Again, I am censoring most of this.

"I am known to some as Neptune. To others, I am no more that a sea god—"

"Excuse me? God? You really need a psychiatrist to teach you about narcissism."

"Listen to me." His blue eyes flashed. "Most call me Poseidon. I am sure you've learned about Greek mythology?"

Since I love reading, of course I knew the myths. But they were… myths. Supposedly, anyways, if this guy was for real. He pretty much had me lost at Poseidon, though, so I didn't answer right away.

"You mean to tell me that my dad is a possibly very powerful and dangerous god that never bothered showing up in my life at all?"

"Well, if you put it that way—"

I laughed out loud, and clapped him on the shoulder.

"If you think I'll believe that story, you've got another coming. Stop trying to get money, and go get a job. I'm broke."

"Do I need to prove myself once again?" The guy sighed. Oh fine, Poseidon, since you all seem so intent on believing he's the real deal.

"Sure. Give me all you got."

"Actually, that would kill you instantly."

Instead, he took his hand and put it next to a patch of brown, dying grass. It took a few seconds, but the blades were soon green and springing to life again. Giving me a long look, he then straightened up, and snapped his finger. A small stream of water flowed from the grass to his hand, and he held it there, spinning the water into a tornado.

"How much more do you need?"

Now, I was baffled. After seeing this, I really had no reason to doubt it, right? Unfortunately, friends (oh wait, I can't say that. I have no friends), I was still a skeptic. So, I asked him one more question. It ultimately led to all of my near-death experiences.

"If you're really my dad, then can I do this too?"

"You already have, and you are right now."

I looked down at my feet; a small circle of desert now surrounded me within a one foot radius. I couldn't help it, and I looked to the guy— Poseidon— for help. He laughed a little, rude, and rehydrated the area. I sighed, relieved.

"Now, you will need training, and you will end up moving to Camp Half-Blood in New York."

"What is this all about?"

Raffi mumbled, closing the gate. I looked at him, waving him over, and he rubbed the sleep out of his eyes.

"Apparently this is Poseidon and we're his kids. Demigods."

"For real?"

"I don't know. Sure seems like it so far."

"Well, that might explain the excellent plumbing I do." He muttered.

I laughed at this, and Poseidon gave me a curious look. I don't know what the man was thinking, trying to understand us, but clearly he was starting to doubt his decision too. I calmed myself— after a long time— and managed to look at him with a straight face, gesturing for him to continue.

"We will also need to check to see what weapons you two will be using. Most of my children have used swords. However, you two…" He gave us a weird searching look.

"Okay, so we move to New York and we completely start over?"

"Exactly, Raffi."

I would have to ask him about this strange calmness later. Raffi was taking the news oddly well, unlike I had. To be honest, though, it sounded like a dream. Leave this dump of a house, go to a completely new place and restart. I couldn't have cared if a giant mythical creature showed up and tried to kill me.

Which, (not so) ironically, is what happened next.

A giant crab, about the size of a large car, dug itself out of the dirt not even ten feet from me, and slashed its way through Poseidon, who liquefied and disappeared. Jerk. Thinking very instinctively, Raffi grabbed two sticks from the ground and whipped them at the crab. I braced myself to give the thing a good kick to the forehead… face… whatever the right word is.

It cam scuttling toward me, and I ran right for it. Jumping as high as humanely possible, I landed on its back and rolled off behind it. So much for kicking it in the face. Raffi shouted for me to duck, and I did just as two more twigs came whizzing past my head and into the crab's legs. He must have hit a sweet spot or something, because one leg completely buckled.

Maybe it was the annoyance we were causing, maybe it just got tired, but the crab didn't attack just yet, giving the oh-so-great Poseidon time to pop in and hand me a recurve bow with a full 12-arrow quiver. Rolling my eyes at him, I took the arrows and quickly nocked one. It flew straight and true, to use a stereotypical phrase, and hit the crab between the eyes. Poof. No more army sized crab rangoon.

"Well, that was interesting."

No kidding. I guess that was some sort of test, or something, because we were suddenly teleported to the entranceway of Camp Half-Blood. I kid you not (okay fine, I might be kidding a bit), it must have been some godly power. Or maybe my ADHD was just getting bad. Either way, Poseidon dropped us off, then disappeared. Great timing, because a giant scorpion decides to barrel me over just then. Thank god Raffi somehow managed to get his hands on a set of throwing knives, and we cleaned it up in about ten minutes.

"Anyone up for lobster soup?" I called to the crowd. Because yes, a crowd had gathered.

I got a few laughs, but there were too many people there to say it was any decent amount of laughter. Tough crowd to please, if I say so myself, but my opinion didn't count for too much there, did it? We stepped inside the border, and everything suddenly felt a lot better. Or should I say, more comfortable. I sighed, and relaxed. Murmurs spread like wildfire, and soon we were completely surrounded.

"What's you name?"

"Are those arrows made of Celestial Bronze?"

"Where's the satyr who's supposed to be with you?"

"Are you siblings?"

"Whoa whoa whoa, let's give them time to answer one before shouting another." A voice boomed.

"Chiron, who exactly are they?"

Chiron. The mythical centaur. Not that I should have been surprised.

"Let me through. Coming through. Thank you. Alright, thank you for quieting down." The crowd fell silent. "Welcome to Camp Half-Blood. Now, theoretically, there should have been a satyr here to guide you, but as Poseidon has personally delivered you here, well that shouldn't be an issue for now, until you go on other missions. I'm assuming you are Poseidon's charges?"

I stifled a sigh, and nodded. The bow in my hand shook slightly with my hands.

"Good. You can move into his cabin, right along the shore, with your counselor, Percy Jackson. Percy is, at best, an interesting boy. You should get to know him."

Chiron looked over the tops of the students' heads for someone. I strained to see also, but being half horse has its perks. He easily signaled for someone to push through, and the crowd parted.

"Percy, can you give them the tour?"

A boy with messy black hair, around 18 or 19 years old, came through, looking up at Chiron. He smiled at me, and I half-smiled back. I guess he was the guy named Percy. Not that anyone else would have been. Wow, I'm getting rusty on my social skills. He beckoned to us to follow him, leaving Chiron to disperse everyone else. I feel bad for the centaur.

"Okay, so since you two are children of Poseidon, that makes us siblings."

Both Raffi and I flinched, and Percy laughed.

"Kidding. Make yourself comfortable in the cabin, then I'll come get you and show you around."

I dropped my small backpack on one of the beds, and opened it. The lava lamp went on the nightstand, my ceramic dolphin sat next to it, and the rest of the stuff stayed in the bag, which I shoved under the bed. As he had said, Percy came back not long after I finished, and he showed us around. All in all, it looked like, well, a training camp. No duh. The equipment was all really nice, and so were the people. Well, save for the Ares cabin. They were just rude.

The only piece of the camp I had a bad feeling about was the fire wall that was supposedly used for rock climbing. I don't really see how that would work in terms of the actual action, but apparently other demigods do it all the time. The medical wing also looked to be a pretty decent size; I'm not sure what that says as far as the amount of injuries.

"So, what do you think?" I said softly.

"I think it's not the most unpredictable thing in my life right now, and I actually kind of like it." Raffi replied.

I just nodded, and we followed Percy back to our cabin. He turned to me, and seemed to think of something.

"You want to get a bow that fits you better? Arrows too."

"Sure."

I'm always up for making my equipment really fit me. I'm not even kidding.

I guess I remembered the camp pretty well, because five minutes later, here I was at the weapon forge with the Hephaestus cabin members. One of them did a few measurements, another laid out some kind of goldish brown metal. A girl, the one who measured my arms, told me to come back in about an hour. It kind of figures that as soon as I want a custom weapon, I have to wait for it.

An hour later, I showed up, and the same girl greeted me and led me to one anvil. Is that what it's called? On it was a magnificent bow of the finest gold and sinews, polished to a shining… okay, okay. It was pretty. I can't make eloquent sentences work. Even so, I looked at in wonder, and I thought to myself, _Wow these kids are talented._ Then I remembered: we're demigods. We have supernatural abilities.

"So, you obviously know how to use a bow and shoot at a pretty advanced level so I'm not going to tell you much except one thing. There is one button here near the top that will auto-fold your bow into a thin strip of metal about the size of half an index card. See here."

She pressed it and the bow unstrung itself and folded up into a tiny rectangle that honestly looked like a phone. I nodded, and smiled, putting it in my pocket.

"It's made of Celestial Bronze, which is deadly to demigods and monsters. The arrows are too in fact. They're labeled according to their abilities."

One arrow that I pulled out of the quiver had "Explosive" written on the side in red letters. The others were labeled with "Regular", "Flaming" and "Freezing". I pulled the quiver over my head, turning to thank the girl, and she brushed off.

"No problem, it's what I do."

I smiled again, and left the stuffy cabin, breathing a gulp of fresh air before I continued back to my own bed. I collapsed on the bed, and relaxed for a second. Or two. No I didn't have the quiver on my back. It was leaning against the wall with my bow. I forgot to mention that? Sorry. Anyways, I think I fell asleep, because when I opened my eyes the sky was flashing orange and pink and I smelled roast pork. It also kinda helped that Percy was standing outside the door waiting for me.

"You don't have to carry weapons around all the time."

"Yeah, well it makes me feel secure and you carry around a sword don't you?"

"Well played. Let's go eat."

Who knows what got into me, but I ended up sitting with Percy and Raffi at a table. Oh, right. That was supposed to happen. Because we were from the same parent. Does that make us half-siblings? Whatever. It's cool. I followed him to the fire, scraping off a portion for the gods, and went back to my seat to eat. A gray haired girl came to sit briefly next to Percy, and I looked away, giving them privacy. Everyone in camp knows about the two of them. Percy and Annabeth.

After she left to go back to her own table, I returned to my food. It really is too bad I wasn't hungry enough to continue, but I tried to anyways. Raffi gave me a look, and said nothing. It wasn't a mean look or anything, but it made me feel like there was something he wasn't telling me. Either that or I was going crazy from lack of normalcy in my life.

"Toby, is there something…?" Raffi whispered to me.

"No." My voice was strained.

He must have known me really, really well because he hugged me tight and suddenly I could breathe like a normal person again. Okay, you know me too well. I am far from normal. Hey, ay least my body functions are normal. Ish. But, yea. My brother can make me feel normalish.

Percy stayed silent, looking away. Such a smart boy. Honestly, I appreciated the gesture a lot more than it seems like, although you probably can't tell. So Chiron clopped into the hall, and everyone just fell silent. In a single instant. He smiled warmly in our— Raffi and me— direction and began to speak.

"We do have two new campers in the Poseidon cabin today."

He was interrupted by some groans from the Ares kids and cheers from the other tables. At a hand, everyone got quiet again.

"Do be nice, or at least don't maim them." He glanced at the Ares cabin's table.

After that, I lost track of his speech, feeling a bit dizzy. Raffi let me lean a bit on him, thank goodness. Otherwise I would have fallen over. As it was, he'd had to catch me a couple of times. Soon enough, everyone headed back to the cabins and I half-walked, half-fell up the stairs to ours. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I was out like a light.

**TO BE CONTINUED**

_In Chapter Two_

See you next time… hopefully.


End file.
